A comparative study of Elderly Care Acts of India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh: policy learning for other countries

Purpose This study compares three elderly care and support acts: the Maintenance and Welfare of Parents and Senior Citizens Act (2007), the Protection of the Rights of Elders Act (2000), and the Parents Maintenance Act (2013), from India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh, respectively, to draw lessons for designing a more comprehensive policy for Bangladesh. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative content analysis was employed to identify five provisions of the acts that also served as learning dimensions for policy transfer. Based on this analysis, a set of lessons was derived for Bangladesh by emulating and synthesizing features from the acts of India and Sri Lanka. Findings The analysis reveals divergent enforcement mechanisms and institutional arrangements among these countries, although acts share analogous intents and backgrounds. Moreover, despite being the newest country among the three to enact such legislation, Bangladesh lacks effective enforcement mechanisms that necessitate policy learning and strengthening. The findings reveal that Bangladesh’s Act, compared to those of India and Sri Lanka, is obscure regarding maintenance claims and decisions, and it avoids detailing the state’s responsibilities, contextual realities, and issue sensitivity. Therefore, the lessons for Bangladesh include broadening parental definition, establishing specific commissions/tribunals with explicit decision time limits, and clarifying the state’s responsibilities towards the elderly. Originality/value This study fills the existing gap in comparative literature on elderly act legislation in South Asia. The lessons drawn can support not only Bangladesh but also other countries in enacting similar policies in the future.